Evacuation

CHAPTER SEVEN

Boris was tired. Sleep wasn’t a likely option either. He had five thousand volunteers for the action group. He’d picked a hundred from them easily. They had either served with him or had exceptional service records for their military service. That filled out the officers. He was planning on spreading both officers and operatives in a wide dispersal, using pods if necessary to travel between locations. No more than five hundred agents per area, but only seven proposed areas of operation. It wasn’t like they were expecting to set up bases or open resistance. They were planning to gather intelligence and fight limited actions against the NVG.

Satellites would find it hard to impossible to get an exact count on the refugee column. Once Janna had been vetted by Bethany Anne, and she agreed to help, her current military knowledge was put to use in planning a route to the Mongolian border that kept to the highway as long as possible while avoiding all population centers. His people would be traveling slowly, and it would add several days but within three weeks they would be safe. The first group had gone ahead with half the Tundra pack and a couple of large strings of horses for the cross-country section. Half the column would still have to walk out once they left the highways, though. There were only so many vehicles available that could travel the off-road section. That included the fifty military trucks that they had scrounged and those captured from the NVG.

The tundra pack had, to a wolf, decided to join the Guardians. This would expand the Guardians by two hundred and fifty wolves. Two dozen ‘lones’ that they tolerated in their territory had also decided to join. Some Wechselbalg wolves didn’t like company, much like most of the bears. But the adventure was enough to attract them.

He had the officers and those who had volunteered to stay behind organizing the packing of supplies. Each person could take what they could carry on their back in personal possessions. Any off-road vehicle that had cargo-only space was being loaded to capacity with supplies.

Danislav knocked on the door and entered the room. “Boris, at least half the wolves are leaving for the Guardians. Might be more when word reaches those who didn’t come to the meeting.”

Boris shrugged and said, “Their choice. If I was a century younger and wasn’t the best person to try and keep a lid on Russia, I might choose that too.”

Danislav snorted at the idiocy of the comment, “No, you wouldn’t. Have you got the officer list for the Czarina? She wants to get an early start on making sure your choices are right tomorrow so she isn’t tied up here for too long. ”

Boris passed the folder over. It listed each person’s proposed position and relevant experience.

“Oh and Boris, I’d take Vassily over to her first. I wouldn’t keep him trapped under guard for too much time. He does have a temper. But with his contacts, he could be very useful if he can be trusted.”

Boris only grunted. He didn’t trust Vassily at the moment, but if he had proof that someone else had caused this mess Danislav was right. Boris looked at the clock. Time to get a few hours of sleep before he needed to do talk to Vassily, though.

Janna was surprised that she had been called to this early meeting with Boris and Bethany Anne.

Yesterday Bethany Anne had done as promised. Janna blushed at the memory. When the pod had gone straight up, she’d grabbed Bethany Anne’s leg. The response had been “You are cute. If I were a man, I’d be flattered, but I don’t swing that way so remove your fucking hand.”

At least she had apparently remained relatively calm when Bethany Anne had shown her true nature. She was unsure of how good her control had been, but Bethany Anne assured her that there had been many reactions that were far more extreme. Her trying to open a Pod door into vacuum didn’t really make her feel that her response had been particularly rational at that moment.

Janna shook her head. She now knew more than Boris probably did about what was really going on, including a lot about him, personally. Although she was unsure regarding his capability to think clearly around her. With what she’d been told in private, her new boss insisted that a woman was needed on his command team who didn’t look at him with awe. The implication was that Janna was going to be Boris’s aide de camp.

Boris had accepted that, though he had given Bethany Anne a strange glare. Then he’d put Janna immediately to work organizing and planning. It had been midnight before she’d gotten to bed. It had seemed like a very short time until a polite woman had awakened her in the room she’d been provided — at five AM.

When she walked into the meeting area, Boris and Bethany Anne were seated at a table with an empty chair to one side. There was a hot breakfast laid out buffet fashion. She noticed that Boris had a huge pile of food on his plate which he was attacking with a vengeance. When he looked up, he waved to the chair on the other side of Bethany Anne.

“Come, sit, eat. We are about to interview a person who might either be very useful or has condemned himself to death for his actions. First, you need breakfast.”

He was glad Bethany Anne, with her ability to either sense or force truth, hadn’t left yet. He wasn’t entirely sure he trusted his own opinion on Vassily. It would also be good to have a second opinion on those he was effectively making officers.

Bethany Anne looked at him, shaking her head. She’d finally met someone who could easily eat more than Peter. What Janna didn’t know was that this was Boris’s third plate. Bethany Anne hated to think how he’d survive without food

He has a draw on the Etheric. The data set we have from his time in the pod shows he would suffer no ill effects. He may just enjoy eating.

Thanks, TOM. I didn’t really think that one through did I?

You have a lot on your mind. I only informed you so there was one less thing for you to worry about.

As Boris finished his meal, there was a knock on the door, and Vassily was led in. He blinked when he saw Bethany Anne and was suddenly and obviously far more nervous.

Boris started the discussion, “So Vassily. You thought I was gone and sought to butter your bread by pointing out the history of this town to you ‘friends’ in the government.”

Vassily looked even more nervous now. “No Boris. I swear. I came because I found out who did tell them. I knew as soon as your last contract sponsor wouldn’t provide a photo of your body that you weren’t dead. Then I heard one of my government informants let slip about the force coming here and that the mercenary in residence was dead according to Phillip Simmons. He was on the list of contacts that use that particular method of contacting me. So it all added up in my mind.”

Vassily continued, “I came as soon as I found out. At worst you weren’t back yet, and I’d help Danislav harass this NVG. At best you were, and I could give you the information and help as I could. I wasn’t trying to cross you. I didn’t think the mission you were contracted on was the big screw! I researched the mission as I usually do, no red flags came up. As far as I could tell it was a pretty standard request. For you at least.”

Boris looked to Bethany. She nodded at him.

Boris turned and tried to keep his annoyance off his face. “Very well, I’ll grant that none of the consequences were deliberate on your part.” Vassily relaxed at that. “Still, do you acknowledge a debt to me? And are you willing to work it off?”

Vassily looked up “I will. But what will make you believe that I’m telling the truth?”

Bethany Anne snapped to capture his attention, then her eyes glowed red in the dim office light, “I’m the reason he will believe you.” Vassily’s heart started beating sharply, his forehead broke out in sweat and nearly fainted. He hadn’t realized she was a vampire.

He got his tongue back under control, “Thhhen you kn-kn-know I’m sincere?”

Bethany Anne reverted to her normal human appearance. “Yes. You have been honest and sincere.” She turned to Boris and said “You can trust him. I’ll send you the modified cell phones before the storm hits.”

She rose from her chair and left the room.

Vassily had left yesterday to pump his sources for more information on the NVG. The custom phones had arrived before Vassily had left. TOM and ADAM had assured Boris that they were secure. ADAM also mentioned he was setting up secure communications, and he would send details to each team leader. Janna had explained ADAM to Boris. She was confident ADAM could keep the merely curious and the hackers out. Everyone who stayed would be getting new identities and papers courtesy of ADAM with Frank’s help as well.

The phones were protected from tampering and were secured by voice recognition when using the Etheric connections.

None of Boris’ officers were to take that equipment into operations. ADAM had set up a website secured by himself for other means of communication. Each team would have their own section, each team member their own login. ADAM promised to give Boris and Janna a synopsis each day.

Boris had spent hours going over the lists of people who had volunteered. First, he’d narrowed it by removing at least one parent from each family with children under sixteen. Then he removed those few with university educations. Then, the eldest were removed, making an occasional exception for those who were exceptionally skilled hunters, trackers, or listeners. That brought the numbers of people that were staying down from more than five thousand to around three thousand, seven hundred and fifty.

He decided that was enough reduction. After all, they were likely to take some casualties when they finally faced the NVG to dismantle it.

He was putting off the next task. Paul wanted to talk to him. He suspected the reason, and it was causing him worry. He’d really hoped Paul would choose to go with the group that was headed into space. Boris had taken him into enough situations over the years that should have killed him, but Paul had come through those successfully. Selfishly, Boris just wanted the man who was probably his closest human friend to be safe.

Boris had spoken to his friend earlier, and it was only two seconds before Paul had insisted that he was too skilled and experienced to waste in space. Even worse, he was probably right. But Alecta was not happy with being separated from her husband. Although she would be comparatively useless to the group that was staying behind.

She was one of the worst shots Boris knew, she still flinched as the trigger was pulled. With a Master’s degree in metallurgy, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in geology and mining and five years of industry experience, she had returned home to settle with Paul and have a family. The boys were twelve and fifteen, so at least one of their parents had to go with them.

There was a knock on the door. It was Paul, as Boris expected. “Come.”

Paul entered the room looking a bit sheepish. “Boss, can you talk to Alecta? She’s saying she’ll hand over guardianship of the kids to her aunt to make sure that she’s eligible to stay. I told her it wouldn’t fly, but she’s convinced that it will. She claims that I’d talked to you before to make sure that she would be leaving. I’ve asked her when I could have, but you know how she can be when she gets a bee in her bonnet. I pointed out that in ten years she still hadn’t learned not to flinch when she pulled the trigger, but…”

Boris sighed. He really didn’t need this, but Paul was an old friend. To his surprise, Janna spoke up in the sudden silence, “Paul, I placed you in our small command group. That is you, Boris and myself. You are third in command. But Alecta doesn’t have any military experience, nor a reputation as a hunter, tracker or a decent shot. She’d be useless to the group compared to what she could contribute to the space-borne group.”

She paused, then shrugged, and said. “I think this is where we pass it up the chain Boris. I’ll call Cheryl Lynn. Explain, and see if we can expedite her transport to the design group. That way she won’t play games. Hopefully whatever task they give her will keep her too busy to have other worries.”

Boris turned to her and grinned, his relief obvious, “And that is how a good aide works out the little things. Paul, you could learn from her. We’ll get back to you as soon as it’s arranged.”

Hopefully, the NVG couldn’t organize anything else before they were ready to move. They were now only waiting for a storm to cover the area. When that happened, they could travel without any additional assistance. The cloud cover would make everything easier.

Unfortunately, the weather had not co-operated. It had taken another five days before they had enough clouds overhead to cover their split and scatter movements. During that time the NVG had started a pair of reinforced companies moving towards the town. The same night Boris found out about the force approaching he had begun moving his people into ambush locations. The experienced fighters were all in a position to do attritional ‘shoot and run’ encounters. Half would scatter to their targeted areas of responsibility after each bushwhacking, the rest would fall back to the main force. The NVG was moving by back roads, avoiding highways. After three sprung traps, Boris expected them to switch to an alternate route. He had forces of approximately twelve hundred and fifty set along each of the probable routes into town. The plan was to wipe the NVG out to the last man.

They had time. ADAM predicted that the cloud cover would last at least ten days. The NVG planned to arrive in three. Boris expected them in about five.

Once they knew the attack route from their interception of communications and scouts verification, Boris would consolidate his forces. Four hundred or so troops against his nearly three thousand. He doubted his casualties would be even between 50-100. Particularly with the extra doses Bethany Anne had provided for his medics, nurses, and doctors. The mercs had unboxed and prepared their portable anti-armor weapons, and there were enough to take out any APCs.

Each officer had access to an account provided jointly by himself and Bethany Anne. These would provide funds for them to disburse to the troops so that working would not be necessary, although many of them would as part of their covers.

Boris had allowed for four weeks of travel for the refugee column to get to safety. It was, he hoped, a generous schedule. The extra time allowed Bethany Anne to provide a piece of equipment that Janna had requested. A camouflaged mobile command base that would permit them to travel quickly and discreetly between areas of operation. What Team BMW had produced looked like a rusting shipping container. It was modified to fly like the pods and had enough internal power to run communications and basic computer support. A small kitchen, first aid equipment, and beds were also included.

It also included, somewhat to Boris’s distress, three motorcycles for local transport. Boris hated riding the damn things but did agree they made sense. Motorcycles would be able to go places that cars couldn’t, so they could hide the shipping crate most of the time in the wilderness, safe from prying eyes.

The countdown to Retaliation had begun.